"They're not even animals—beasts treat their young better!"
She could hold back no longer.
Madam Pomfrey closed her eyes, aura formidable.
She opened them again. "But Miss Lynn's brain is intact now? I'd have noticed otherwise."
Missing two vital areas? She would never have missed it.
"Yes," Hermione bit out. "Her emotional and memory centers regrew—infant-new and still suppressed."
Everyone eased slightly; at least the brain was whole again.
They could work with that.
"So after that—Merlin-forsaken—surgery, your parents set one hour of sleep, minutes for meals, the rest for study?"
Hermione finally connected every odd habit.
No wonder Lynn never felt tired or dreamed—without a sleep center, how could she?
"Exactly," Lynn nodded in agreement. "Without a sleep center, I won't be drowsy anymore, so I only need one hour of sleep a day to keep my body running."
"Merlin's beard..." Professor McGonagall buried her face in her hands, struggling to ask a question.
"Miss Lynn, when we Professors first gave you extra reading last year, did you finish it all by sleeping only one hour a night?"
Watching Professor McGonagall hide her face, Lynn opened her mouth, thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Yes, but Professor McGonagall, you don't need to worry. Studying is my duty as a student, and even without the extra reading the Professors assigned, my study time wouldn't change."
"Yes," Professor McGonagall gave a strained smile. "Madam Pince told us about the frequency and quantity of books you borrow—it's astonishing."
"So after this surgery, your grades improved?"
Maranhao brought the topic back on track and continued asking about Lynn's experience.
"Yes. After that, I became the top student in the whole school."
"Then how were you scrapped? I mean, the bottom third gets scrapped, and you were first."
Marietta sniffed, looking at Lynn in Hermione's arms.
"Because in the final year-end exam I dropped from first place to the bottom third."
"Why?" Penelope stared at Lynn in confusion; she wouldn't believe it was because Lynn had slacked off.
Putting everything else aside, after that kind of surgery, Lynn no longer had the capacity to slack or be careless.
Lynn nodded, her expression calm. "It wasn't that I slacked or was careless. I had diarrhea before and during the exam and couldn't finish the paper."
"Diarrhea?" Madam Pomfrey frowned, then recalled the gastrointestinal condition she'd found when examining Lynn.
With that condition, diarrhea did seem normal.
"Based on my observations, my parents have a new child, and judging by their attitude, there's about an eighty percent chance that child is a born prodigy."
"So?" Maranhao was puzzled; having grown up in a happy family, she couldn't see the undercurrents behind that analysis.
"So, by cost-benefit calculation, discarding me to prevent my abnormalities from being discovered and raising the new prodigy instead is the better choice."
As Hermione listened, an extremely bad guess flashed through her mind.
She prayed the truth wasn't what she feared; if it were, everything would be too cruel and unfair to Lynn.
"By passing the year-end exam, they could achieve the goal of abandoning me. On the morning of the exam, after I finished preparing breakfast, they added three times the normal dose of laxatives."
Lynn, who often needed painkillers and was familiar with all kinds of knowledge—
how could she fail to taste the abnormality in her breakfast? She'd figured out the truth with the first bite.
But... it was her parents' choice, and she should obey her parents; they always had her best interests at heart.
So without hesitation she finished the breakfast and went to take an exam she was destined to fail.
"Those two—beasts!"
"I've never heard of such shamelessness—no, they're not even human!"
Curses erupted around the room; Hermione swore viciously, tightening her arms around Lynn to make sure she was still safely there.
Taking off her glasses and Witch's hat, Professor McGonagall looked at Lynn with reddened eyes.
"After that... you were... scrapped?"
"Yes." Lynn nodded, her face blank and unchanged.
"I really don't understand—why must children be driven to this?"
Professor McGonagall stared at Lynn; in her view every child should be cherished while growing up.
As long as they grew into people of good character, that was enough.
Grades and future achievements were far less important than the children themselves.
"Because we are the future, and we must take responsibility for it."
Lynn recited without hesitation; clearly she'd memorized these words.
"Many problems exist in the world—severe resource shortages, global warming, increasing disputes over resources."
"If we can't solve these problems, or can't protect our place from being wiped out in resource conflicts, we'll be the sinners of the future, the rejects of the future."
"Abandoned by the era. If we can't advance ourselves, every disaster and evil consequence of the future will be our fault."
"Because if we strive to improve ourselves, maybe we can find ways to avert those consequences—we..."
Before she could finish, Professor McGonagall gently pulled Lynn and Hermione into her arms.
"That's all rubbish," the Witch's aged yet powerful voice declared. "It's all buck-passing."
Professor McGonagall let go, knelt to Lynn's level, cupped the girl's cheeks, her gaze gentle.
"Listen, child, you're still young, not yet adults. Whatever storms the world holds, we adults will face them."
"As children, your job is to grow up healthy and happy—then to learn."
"Understand? Health and happiness come first. Make sure you grow up well; only then do you learn. Otherwise, if you're not okay, if you can't even live to grow up, what use is knowledge?"
"Healthy, happy growth before learning—those two can't be discarded. But if anyone tries to reverse that order—"
"—using possible future disasters or disputes as excuses to make you study recklessly—that's just shifting responsibility."
"Because problems that exist now should be solved by us adults now, not passed on to the next generation."
Professor McGonagall stood up, her straight back as though holding up the sky.
"The same will apply when you grow up: problems that arise then will be yours to solve."
"But we are the sun at eight or nine o'clock,"
Lynn answered instinctively; they should rush into the sky and burn themselves to light the world.
"I like that image—the sun at eight or nine, full of vigor," Professor McGonagall said warmly, glancing at the five Young Wizards present. "Just like all of you in your youth."
"But the sun at eight or nine should climb the sky bit by bit. Should we abandon the blazing noon sun and demand the newly risen dawn to light the world?"
"That would be our adults' incompetence." Professor McGonagall pointed to herself, then to Madam Pomfrey. "Whatever you've heard or learned before, from now on, Miss Lynn, I hope you take your time—grow healthy and happy first, then learn."
"And give us adults a chance to prove we're not cowards who shirk our duties."
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